History

The story...from the beginning...to today

ACS was started in 2000 by two professionals who saw the need for a firm which could deliver the specific requirements of the utility and energy sector.

Services for all businesses: Today, ACS works with clients in all sectors. It provides debt recovery for individuals and UK and overseas businesses. It provides outsourced solutions and ad-hoc collection of single and multiple debts from its three storey office block in Hatfield. It recovers commercial and consumer debt of any size and age. Its services include debt recovery, debt tracing, and litigation for UK and overseas debt as well as specialist services for UK utility businesses. A network of overseas affiliate attorneys and agencies recovers debt in more than 200 countries.

Regulated and accredited: ACS has deep understanding and skills in credit control. In 2016 it was one of the first debt collection agencies to be given full authorisation by the FCA. Its regulated and accredited status ensures that best practice leads its debt collection.

Technology based services: Technology is at the heart of ACS's debt collection process but does not dictate it. A proprietary collection platform was at the core of the business in 2000. This has been developed and enhanced and is now a highly rated client portal. The drive to improve the collection process continues. In 2016 with the University of Hatfield ACS won government funding to build the next generation of debt collection software which, in the view of the funding assessors,

" ...has the potential to make a step change within the industry and the approach can then be applied to other sectors. A successful project will be revolutionary for the Company."

Specialist utility division: ACS still has a large footprint in the utilities sector and provides specialist services to the UK's water, electricity, and gas providers. These include live and final-billed debt recovery as well as site services such as meter disconnections. In 2017 it span out its site services into a separate company "ACS Utility Services". However, the close integration of site services with its collection processes is still a feature of its business and is what makes ACS unique in this sector.